Transferring Tbird Messages to Gmail?
Hello,
I am looking to move my Email to Gmail's cloud so that I can have access to email on my phone. My current configuration is POP3 through my home ISP which doesn't work for mobile. I have successfully set up Gmail in Tbird using the Gmail IMAP option.
I am now looking for the least painful way to get my existing Email messages onto Gmail's IMAP server. So far the only suggestions are to drag-and-drop from one account to the other using Tbird. I have done this with some small folders and it appears to work.
However, I tend to be very picky about what I throw away. With Eudora Pro this wasn't much of an issue as the important text was saved and the attachments were put in a separate location and could be safely deleted eventually. Lots of messages didn't take a lot of disk space.
After converting to Eudora OSE and now Tbird I now have two very LARGE folders "Sent Mail", which is obvious, at 1.2Gb and one that I call "Long Term Storage" at about 800Mb. LTS are messages that I don't want to get rid of in the short run because I might need to find something in there one day. This folder gets cleaned out periodically.
I have read of several users having issues when moving large folders from Tbird to Gmail with lockups and aborted/incomplete transfers. The recommendation was to move small blocks of messages and then verify that they transferred correctly. This sounds like a lot of work. Is there a less painful way that I am overlooking?
Thanks,
Steve
الحل المُختار
Thanks for the info on MailStore. I will look into it. I can't say right now if I will be leaving Tbird permanently but I definitely know that I need email access on the phone and don't want the complexity of multiple email accounts.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (8)
Given IMAP is not a "file system" it can cope with messages being added in smallish numbers, but will almost always mess up on large quantities of mail. This is not a Thunderbird problem, but really a limitation on the whole IMAP protocol that affects all mail clients. The current trend to trying to get mail stored on someone elses computer by using a mail client is basically upload thousands , or tens of thousands of email is doomed to long term failure.
The bottom line is log into your google account using a web browser, configure the account to get your mail from your ISP via it's pop service and you will not need to fiddle around trying to make your ISP mail appear in Google at all via Thunderbird.
As for your old mail, export it as EML files and upload it to Google drive and search it as a collection of files.
Thanks for the answer although it wasn't what I was hoping for. Old emails are really the issue. I find that I am searching my archives on a regular basis either to find something that I wrote to modify and resend or something that I sent to someone else who now can't find it. I may just install Tbird and all of its archives on my new PC just to be able to search for stuff.
While I cannot suggest anything more about putting all your old e-mails on Gmail, I strongly suggest that you do not solely count on Gmail's services.
If it is important to you, back it up. ie. Also have a copy on your computer. That is why Thunderbird has "Local Folders". So you can copy (or move), e-mails from the IMAP to be saved on your computer in "Local Folders".
If your intention is to avoid using Thunderbird entirely in the future, you might want to look at MailStore Home. It is a free program for home users. You can use it to archive your old e-mails from Thunderbird (or other e-mail programs), and still be able to search and find them in MailStore. Later, if you want to, you can export the e-mail from MailStore to another e-mail program. MailStore can also be used to archive e-mail that is only in webmail, like Gmail.
الحل المُختار
Thanks for the info on MailStore. I will look into it. I can't say right now if I will be leaving Tbird permanently but I definitely know that I need email access on the phone and don't want the complexity of multiple email accounts.
Modified by Steve_Sr
We ignored the original reason why you were going to use Gmail, and that was to be able to access your e-mail on your phone.
Your ISP probably also offers the ability to access your e-mail account using IMAP, and that can be set up on your phone. It will not have access to all your old e-mail on your computer, but it will work.
You can also then switch to using IMAP for your ISP e-mail address in Thunderbird: Switch from POP to IMAP account
Modified by user1121639
IF your mail is on a mail server, you can tell the secondary mail account to collect it. This was one of the early selling points for Gmail and all the big free players have adopted it.
So you create a primary account and have it collect all the mail for your others via POP.
The drawbacks are; You will have difficulty storing replies on a single server, gmail will let you reply using other email addresses if you register them, but it has to be set up. POP only knows about the inbox. So mail send from the account will not be picked up.
Matt,
Thanks for the suggestion but all of my mail is downloaded to my "Local Folders" from my ISP's POP3 server.
Bruce,
My ISP is Time Warner. They have a hard enough time handling just POP email. I am pretty sure that they don't support IMAP or if they did the storage would be so small as to be nearly useless.
nah TWC does IMAP https://www.timewarnercable.com/en/support/faqs/faqs-internet/e-mailacco/incoming-outgoing-server-addresses.html
You will probably find it better than their pop service as most mobile/cell users use IMAP.